Switch/ Bridge

[The_guroo_2]

when we talk abt difference between bridge/switch we say that switchs r hardware based and bridges r software based....both work at layer two i m not just getting the concept that whats does it means can some one plz explain it to me...thanking in advance....

[pkhatri]

Hi,

That just means that there is no real difference in the operation of switches and bridges. Because traditional brdiges used to perform the bridging function in software, they were not able to support very high forwarding rates. With this function moved to hardware, we can now get forwarding performace at rates of multiple Gbps. The 'bridges' that perform this function in hardware are now called switches.

Hope that helps - pls rate the post if it does.

Paresh